“Bubbles” is one of the few words Kymee says which a stranger can understand. Of course “Baba”

and “Bubbles” end up sounding the same, so one must taking into context whether she is hugging her “Baba” Stephan, or wanting to chase pop-able spheres around. Her therapist is also using bubbles to try and get her to say, “Pop” and “More.” (She does say “more” – Amanda just hasn’t heard it yet)

If you listen real closely in this video you can catch the word “bubbles” or more like “bubu.”

But the real therapy isn’t in the words associated with bubbles themselves, but the ability to blow them. 120 toddlers were studied by Lancaster University, it was found that the ability to perform complex mouth movements, like blowing bubbles, sucking through a straw and kissing, were strongly linked with the ability to develop language.

Kymee’s language challenges stem from a lack of control over her mouth muscles, due to her cleft lip and palate. Blowing bubbles exercises for the lips, breathe control, and mouth positions.

When blowing bubbles, the therapist is looking for a round shape of the lips.

As you can see from this photo, Kymee can not yet round her lips completely.

“Pucker up” and blow is the lip position for the sounds /w/, oo, and /o/.

Blowing bubbles also positions and strengthens the tongue for sounds that are made in the back of the mouth like /k/, /g/, and ng. Funny, these were the first sounds that Kymee made after her palate repair surgery, but she has stopped making them for some reason.

So, I’ll get Kymee to blow some bubbles and work out those lip muscles. I’m hopeful that a byproduct of this therapy is that she’ll learn to give round, closed mouthed kisses instead of slobbering all over my face.